This fits in with my WIP fic Legacy of the Princes, which I plan to update soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognisable.
He has seen the future, and knows what must be done.
True he is no seer (that's laughable; a vampire quarter-breed who can see the future) but still, he knows.
The Dark Lord's end must come, and soon. Severus is the only one who can do it. He must be the spy. The bastards who dare call themselves his family know that; it's why they chose him.
His Ravenclaw cousins, though remarkable in their own rights, are not Slytherin in title - however much they could be in nature. Elle MacDougal (from an ancient, Grey Pureblood House) and Alice Harper (an ambiguous Wizarding and muggle name) would understand all the same - it had to be him.
Now, Pandora, his only Slytherin relative, would be bitterly...disappointed. She'd want to be the spy, if only to avenge her murdered mother by destroying her paternal family, the Notts, from the inside out (and the fourth year wouldn't say no to getting the chance to help his mother, who she greatly respected).
But it's his mother who is submerged deep in a rare, undocumented sickness. It's his task. For the minuscule chance that the Princes would be able to help Eileen, one of their own, in her time of need, it had to be him.
Bugger them, Severus thinks, cool anger like liquid ice flowing through his veins. Pulsing behind his dark eyes, it burns his irises amethyst; a sign of his Tainted heritage as sure as the elongated fangs that vampires of Muggle myth had.
Of all his teeth only his canines were pointed, and even then they seemed no sharper than the rest of his teeth.
He makes his way to the Owlery, sends off a note that simply reads: I'll do it, S.
The owl was rather disgruntled - like most creatures it could sense the dark, inhuman Taint in him, even after five years of visiting the Owlery to get the winged creatures used to him. And he didn't even drink blood - no one in his family, who wasn't born of a pure vampire and magical human (thus an nominal Half-Breed), did. And even then there were potions...
Most days he hates the Blacks for what they did to his maternal family by setting vampires on them, generations ago. Especially when it would be so easy for him forgo magic and simply strangle that ignorant fool Sirius Black until he suffocated. (It's not as if his parents would mourn him.)
But there are few students in Hogwarts who know of his lineage; few people who know he is a Half-Blood Prince. His family are as Grey as the sun is blistering, but the self-styled Dark Lord is a picky bastard; he doesn't like Half-Breeds (not to mention the little matter of the feud between the Blacks, surely encompassed in his ranks, and the Princes).
But he'd 'like' Severus. The fifth year's half (or so, one can never be sure regarding the magically inclined) vampire, great-uncle Tristan was sure of it. Because according to him, Severus is quite a catch; showing an aptitude for potions and, particularly, the Dark Arts.
With good reason too - Tobias had yet to write them or show his face since Severus and his mother left Spinner's End, and he wants to be ready for that day. Severus' eagerness and impatience irk him like an itch beneath his pale skin.
For now he'll have to wait. Wait and play deserter of the Princes - the son of a disowned and dying Half-Breed, seeking refuge and revenge in the cold embrace of one of his family's enemies. It won't be too hard a part to play considering the majority of his family's feelings regarding himself and his mother. She was still 'disowned' despite being welcomed back with open arms by her younger sister, Alice's mother. Eileen's younger cousin, Elle's mother, treated her and Severus as she did everything - with disdain, but she was just... not a nice person.
It was a wonder Elle (called Eleanor by everyone but her closest relatives) and her older brother turned out as they did with her as a mother. But then look at him with Tobias bleedin' Snape for a sorry excuse of a father...
Lily catches up to him in the hallway coming down the Owlery.
She says he looks awful and asks how he's doing (he hasn't told her a thing about his family's Taint or his upcoming role as a spy). She also explicitly says, "And don't say, 'I'm fine, Lily. No, really, I'm fine - no need to look at me like that with those astonishing eyes of yours'." Her impression of him is so outlandish that he laughs. She's sort of right in her impression of him - except for the 'astonishing eyes' bit. He sneaks a glance at her joyful, exuberant face. Maybe.
He knows what must be done, but joking around with his best friend, Severus thinks, more than a little selfishly, I'll hold onto this joy a little longer. The future be damned.
A/N: please don't favourite without reviewing.
Written for Camp Potter, A Challenge. Campfire songs, week one.
Prompts used: Mandatory: "I figured out all the pieces and it now makes sense to me. My future has been set in stone, and this end must come, for this must be done."
- Open at the Close, Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls.
Optional: 1. Desert. 2. Sickness. 3. Dialogue: "No, really, I'm fine." 5. Things that bite.